[FFML] [yyh][rk][xover] Demon Sword Chapter 37: Red Rose in the Darkness (Part 5)

[Abdiel]

Right atop the enchanted trees that combined themselves into one
gigantic tree network, specifically at the spot that was intended forthe
Chikyusei suicide pact in Aokigahara...
The combatants were so high up the Sea of Trees, they could see thenearby
Mount Fuji from where they were perched.
The Six of the Suzaku Seven burst through the thicket with another oneof
their Prism of Six Lightning Storm of Torment while apocalypsehappened from
behind them. The portion of Aokigahara that was underKurama's control was
set ablaze as lighting emerged from the thickplumes of the forest fire.
Kurama was able to rescue the Earth Club's members from a fiery deathvia
Karasu's full body explosion earlier by getting a "backup" Kuwabarain the
form the shape-shifting Mitsunari Yanagisawa.
However, the fox demon and his cohorts... Yanagisawa who was allowed
towield the Demon Sword to enable him to copy powers as well as
shapeshiftand Aoshi Shinomori's reincarnation, Detective-Investigator
DaijiMatsudaira... still fell victim to Jine Udo's hypnotic Evil Eye,
thusthey were all injured severely with all of them none the wiser.
While sitting atop the amalgamated trees of the Sea of Trees, all
threeseemed at the mercy of the unstoppable Six of the Seven Suzaku, who'd
sofar turned the interconnected portion of Aokigahara into an
apocalypticwasteland filled with dirty thunderstorms, a forest fire that
was aboutto consume them all, and the charred remains of the trees with an
hyper-accelerated growth spurt.
"It's time to say your prayers to Koenma Daio. Perhaps he can use therest
of his remaining life force to resurrect you again like the
Chojinresurrected the members of the Shin Juppon Gatana!" declared one of
thesix Suzakus.
Daiji attempted to injure Jine so that he'd be caught in the crossfire,but
the serial killer understood his intent and simply fled beside theSuzakus.
"KANJI KILLER!" screamed Detective Matsudaira as he did one last attemptto
take down the traitorous "Officer Hamada".
"Even though Karasu didn't turn into an S-Level demon as Xinhai
planned,this ended up a rather fruitful mission... for us," said Suzaku as
heaimed his energy bows at all three of the remaining Spirit Worldwarriors
in his midst. "Goodbye. ROKU-GOKU-ANKOKU-RAIKO-HA!"
"Kido-kun! NOW!" instructed Kurama.
"Kido...?" mouthed one of the six Suzakus as their auras shone
inpreparation of their devastating technique while Jine turned towards
theperson behind them while following Kurama's line of sight, half of
hisattention still focused on Daiji in case the detective somehow dodgedthe
Shisejyu's lightning bolt arrows and made good on his death threats.
The two (technically seven) Shin Ju members froze on their
tracks,completely immobile.
"What the hell is going on here?" demanded the different Suzakus atvarious
times while Jine could only move around his animalistic blackeyes that were
devoid of white sclera and mostly composed of irises, hisfreakishly even
teeth exposed in a twitchy grin.
From behind the six Shisejyu clones and one reincarnated serial killerstood
Asato Kido, his shoed feet stepping on all seven shadows of someof the
Spirit World's most dangerous enemies.
"Shadow Paralysis!" Kido's powers didn't really have a name, but he
feltleft out by the lack of attack names he could shout out, so he
belatedlynamed them after the fact. All the same, his last-minute
heroicshenanigans proved effective.
Out of the three Mushiyori City residents (actually four, but the
boxerwannabe, the mind-reading Murota, was consumed by Sadao
"Gourmet"Makihara of the Sensui Seven who had the power of taking the
powers ofothers by eating them, hence his codename) who was gifted with
specialpowers after the gates to the Demon World were opened, Kido's
powerwas among the most unimpressive.
He had the psychic ability to control shadows, particularly the ones
hestepped on. Big whoop.
When faced with actual missions, Kido ended up beat up or almost
killed.However, one thing that those blunders would never take away was
thefact that for a couple or so days, he rendered helpless the great
Yusuke Urameshi, the Spirit World Detective who was able to beat scary
dudeslike the ones before him on a regular basis.
There was that lightning guy who could create shadow clones like somesort
of ninja and the smiley man with the sword that the (Human World)detective
called the Kanji Killer. Kido had heard about him on the newssince the
Eighties. He was Japan's answer to Jack the Ripper and theZodiac Killer,
wasn't he?
Asato's "Shadow" psychic powers might not be as fancy as Yu Kaito's"Taboo"
or Mitsunari Yanagisawa's "Copy", but he was still the dude whobrought
Urameshi on his knees, figuratively speaking. He was also theguy who saved
the behinds of the tactical genius known as Kurama thanksagain to the
underrated power of his territory.
However, it turned out that Jine had actually avoided getting his
shadowstepped on, and he was about to ambush Kido. He was merely
playingpossum once again.
Asato's eyes then met the Kanji Killer's, which he remembered too latewas
something he was not supposed to do.
"Yanagisawa-kun! Give Kido-kun the Demon Sword!" Kurama ordered.
From looking like the spirit and image of Kenshin save for the
Chikyuseirobes he wore as a disguise, Mitsunari transformed back to his
laidback,broom-haired self and shouted, "Catch!" to Asato while throwing
theYoutou Shinnoken towards him.
Kurama knew that because the Spirit World and the wielder of the
DemonSword, Kenshin Himura, were dealing with former enemies that knew all
ofthem like the backs of their hands, he had to get allies that
neitherfaction had any significant data on, namely the psychics of
MushiyoriCity.
'Did I make the right decision in bringing him here, though?' the
half-youko asked himself as Asato caught the Reikai artifact. 'We barely
hadenough time to test their full capabilities while using the
YoutouShinnoken. Yanagisawa-kun seemed okay afterwards, but what about
Kido-kun?'
In any case, it was too late for regrets. Kido had taken hold of
thepowerful sword that the members of the Chojin's army tried to
corruptand/or steal for themselves.
Asato unsheathed the weapon, but instead of a blade, there was onlydarkness
in the curved shaped of one. One word then escaped his mouth.
"Eclipse."
The blackness that was once the Youtou Shinnoken's blade melted likebutter
in the sun and fell to Kido's feet. It then spread far and wide,the same
way the darkness would envelop the earth during twilight. Timeafterwards
stopped, and the entire area was bathed in the shadows ofKido's territory.

========================================================================

Demon SwordA Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction StoryBy
Chester Castañedachester.castaneda at gmail.comgabriel_gabdiel@yahoo.comhttp://
www.fanfiction.net/u/223441/Original concept by Chad Yangchadjill
@ms3.hinet.nethttp://www.fanfiction.net/u/56473/
The Spirit World's allies from past and present were able to prevent
thebirth of another Class-S demon among the Chojin's Army... but at
whatcost?

========================================================================
Chapter 37: Red Rose in the Darkness (Part 5)
========================================================================

The forest fire, the dirty thunderstorm, and everything else
surroundingKido seemed to have stopped altogether. Died, almost. The only
one thatwas alive, breathing, and moving was Kido himself.
"Way to go, Kido! You beat the monsters and saved the day, buddy!"cheered
Yanagisawa, which was surreal, seeing that he couldn't move hisbody at all
and had to rely on his voice to express his excitement.
Meanwhile, Detective Matsudaira breathed a sigh of relief. For a
momentthere, he thought he was about to be prematurely reunited with his
deadwife whom Feng Xinhai killed.
"So the Spirit World has one of these humans under their wing too,"observed
Suzaku with a bitter chuckle. "I'm amazed. None of us couldmove or use our
powers at all."
"You bet your hair antennas you can't! Good ol' Kido was able to do thesame
thing to Urameshi Yusuke, for your information," informedMitsunari.
"Fascinating. I can't activate my Jagan either," marveled Udo. "Icouldn't
even blink. You've outdone yourself this time, Kurama. Bravo. Ifor one love
the irony of being frozen stiff after years of using myShin no Ippo to do
the same thing to other people!"
Kido wondered why the Kanji Killer was praising someone else for _his_hard
work. True, it was the half-demon who came up with the idea of thethree
Mushiyori City psychics using the Demon Sword's
power-boosting capabilities, but aside from that, it was still the shadow
master whobrought the Shinjuku Group (or whatever) down!
This was already the second time Asato had taken control of the DemonSword,
but what the artifact did to his pathetic powers every time hetook hold of
it still amazed him. Neither Doctor Kamiya nor Murotawould've stood a
chance against him in this dark world. He doubted thateven Yusuke could
deal with it.
"Kido-kun! The Shin Ju! We have to finish them off!" Kurama's voice
cutthrough the haze in Kido's mind.
"Uh, y-yeah. Of course. Heheheh." Asato scratched the back of his
head, embarrassed that he let the power of the Youtou Shinnoken go to
hishead. He'd be no better than that electric demon if he were to keep
onthinking this way.
Finish them off? Oh right, Kido was supposed to let go of hisimmobilization
of Kurama and the others so that they could do the dirtydeed of executing
these monsters before him.
'Why should they hog all the glory?' Kido realized. This was his chanceto
show off... well, actually, _discover_... the true extent of hispowers. So
instead of releasing his hold over his friend, hisacquaintance, and some
police officer he just met today, he chose adifferent approach.
From there, one of the six Suzakus began to move on his own, as thoughhe
were a puppet on strings. "W-What's going on? Why am I m-moving? Thisisn't
funny!"
"Fascinating. Instead of merely gaining the power to freeze whoeverowned
the shadows he stepped on, he could now, in this dark world,control anyone
in any way he wishes. Such is the frightening power ofthe Demon Sword,"
observed one of the Suzakus as he watched his fellowclone do an awkward
dance.
"Kido-kun? What are you doing? Just let us go so that we can finishthese
two Shin Juppon Gatana members off, or at least capture one ofthem alive so
that we could interrogate him regarding the Chojin'splans," said Kurama,
but he himself was under the influence of Asato's overpowering,
Youtou-Shinnoken-boosted talent.
"No, that's much too dangerous, Kurama. Didn't these demons almost killyou
three? Especially that smiley one who made you all think you wereuninjured
even though you were bleeding to death? It's much morepractical to let me
finish them off myself," murmured Kido softly as ahint of a smirk appeared
on the edges of his mouth.
From there, using his mind, Asato forced the first Suzaku he
manipulatedusing his control of shadows to grab hold of his own neck so
that hecould choke himself to death.
"W-What gives, Kido? That's not cool," protested an immobile
Yanagisawa."You're acting like a total psycho!"
"What's not cool, Yanagisawa? Kurama and the others have done far worsethan
make their enemies choke themselves to death. Did you even see howKuwabara,
who we know is a nice guy through and through, decapitated oneof the
electric dude's clones in a snap? I want in on the action."
The zombie-like teenager chuckled as one of the Suzakus turned blue,
hissaliva bubbling into a foam and flowing out of his mouth while he
rolledhis irises upwards. "He looks so stupid, man! I couldn't draw a
sillierface than his! I didn't know demons needed to breathe too!"
"Dude, not cool," reiterated the brush-haired Mitsunari. Had he theability
to shake his head, he would've done so.
"Kido-kun, you need to stop. Let us handle this ourselves," Kuramabeckoned
again while Detective Matsudaira noted, "This friend of yoursis every bit
as psychotic as the criminals we've put behind bars,Kurama."
"He's not like that normally! He's a chill dude, Officer! I
swear!"entreated Yanagisawa. "It's only when he's holding that sword
thathe's...!"
"You know what? You guys need to shut up," snapped Kido. Thusly, thetrio
lost their ability to talk. Immediately after, the Suzaku thatAsato
forcefully auto-asphyxiated gave his final death rattle.
'I was afraid of this. I thought I was the only one who could slide offthe
slippery slope when wielding the Demon Sword, but it looks likethere's one
other person I should be worried about,' Kurama belatedlythought.
"One down, five plus one to go," Kido chirped before he held his
sides,unable to contain his own sadistic amusement.
"So why'd you let us talk, kiddo?" asked one of the Suzakus before hefound
himself face-to-face with himself.
Asato cackled. "I wanted to hear you beg for your life just in case."
Before either Suzaku could react, their hands were at each other'sthroats,
each strangling the other using unbreakable choke holds.
"I should've done this earlier. I would've finished all six of you
offsooner if I had you choke each other in three pairs," said Kido with
ashrug as Kurama, Daiji, and Mitsunari glared daggers at him. "Eh. I
wasexperimenting with my power. It couldn't be helped."
"You're my kind of sadist," said the grinning Jine through clenchedteeth,
although this time around, even though his smile was frozen, itappeared
more genuine somehow. "You remind me of Xinhai during his ownfirst kill
while impersonating me. I remember my own first kill..."
Kido rolled his eyes. "Spare me the bedtime story, Gramps. He's a demonand
if you were caught by the police, you'd be on death row by now. Youboth
deserve to die."
"You've created quite the monster with your Youtou Shinnoken
experiment, Kurama," said Udo even though he couldn't move his head towards
the"humanized" demon fox. "This is what happens to anyone foolish enough
tothink that they could take control of the sword or the Battousai insideof
it."
"Nonsense. If I were to wield the Demon Sword, I wouldn't let it controlme
the way it obviously did with this kid. The human is in over hishead,"
swore one of the remaining (unchoked) Suzakus while the otherSuzakus chimed
in with their assent and approval.
As Jine and the surviving Suzakus chatted, the two Suzakus whom Kidoforced
to strangle each other to death kicked the bucket. A tear rolleddown
Yanagisawa's unblinking eyes as he saw his friend become just likethe
monsters they were hunting down and killing.
Even the three remaining Suzakus, who'd faced countless deaths beforethey
even met their ultimate demise in the hands of Urameshi, balked atwhat this
impetuous human was doing.
After much thought and deliberation as he scratched his pointed chin,Kido
turned towards the Kanji Killer. "Hey, Mister Serial Killer. Youknow,
you're kind of pissing me off."
"Really? How so?"
"You're too smug for your own good. I hate it."
Jine was intrigued enough to move his head down and glower up at
thesadistic blond. "Oh? What are you going to do about it?"
With a snap of his fingers, Kido turned Udo into his marionette andhad him
run his uchigatana through the remaining three Suzakus,skewering all of
them in the process.
"Huh. Well, _that_ certainly showed me," came the half-bewildered,
half-amused remark of Jine.
"Oh, we're not yet through. I have one more thing to test when it comesto
my Eclipse Territory, you see," explained Asato before he pumped hisfist
forward... the one gripping the bladeless handle of the YoutouShinnoken...
and shouted, "ANKOKU-RAIJIN-KEN!"
All three of the surviving Suzakus followed suit and did the samemovements
as their puppeteer, except this time around, the act resultedin them
actually performing their special move and blasting a threefoldStorm of
Torment Fist right at the immobile Jine, who promptly squealedand shrieked
from the unbearable pain while his body didn't even havethe ability to
convulse and spasm thanks to Kido's paralyzing power.
They served as a complete circuit of electrical pain.
Asato was now on all fours, laughing his heart out from all the
comicalSchadenfreude he was witnessing. "You're shrieking like a girl! So
muchfor being Mister High-and-Mighty,
'I've-killed-lots-of-people-so-I'm-better-than-you' Asshole! I can't wait
to hear you beg for your life!Come on, dude! Squeal harder!"
Instead of heeding Kido's words, the electrocuted Udo himself guffawedat
his own predicament. "HAHAHAHA! This is what your folly has wrought,Kurama!
You might be able to kill me and Suzaku, but in the process,you've given
birth to another monster just like _us_!"
Kido harrumphed and pouted like a petulant child who didn't get hisfavorite
toy for Christmas after Jine refused to cave in to his demandsof
entertainment.
"Whatever, man. Let's see which of you four will die first. Will
the electric dudes bleed out or will the Kanji Killer die from the
roughequivalent of the electric chair? Also, don't compare yourselves to
me.You deserve every single torture you're going through."
It was at that point that one of the hanging vines from the
amalgamatedAokigahara trees that they were all standing on grabbed hold of
the"empty" handle that Asato was wielding and threw it back to Yanagisawa.
Kurama did the same trick he killed Gama with in order to snatch theweapon
away from Kido's grip even though he himself remained immobile.
In an instant, Kido's "Eclipse" territory disappeared while his
powersreverted back to their basic "Shadow" form, his feet still
firmlystepping on the shadows of three of the skewered Suzakus and
aconvulsing, mouth-foaming Kanji Killer.
Kido went on all fours again, but this time around it wasn't because
ofcruel mirth. "What the hell was I doing? What came over me? I was
actingworse than those monsters were!"
The previously frozen Matsudaira, Kurama, and Yanagisawa (who nowwielded
the Demon Sword) breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Mitsunari himself reassured Kido, "Don't worry, man. That wasn't
youtalking. It was the sword. I mean, you were, like, drunk with its
poweror something. Don't let it get to you."
"But how come you aren't turning into a sadistic bastard when
_you're_holding the weapon?" asked Asato, but before Yanagisawa could
answer, alightning bolt almost hit the shadow master clean. Luckily for
Kido, theshot missed because it was fired by the dying seventh Suzaku...
the onewhom Daiji stabbed twice using his own magnetic force field against
him.
The blurry-eyed Seventh Suzaku collapsed to the ground and promptlydied. It
took all of his strength to fire that one Lightning Storm ofTorment.
"Holy shit, dude! That was a close one!" said a chuckling and
bemusedYanagisawa after ducking away from the blast.
"I could've been killed!" were the last words Kido said before he washit
dead center with another Ankoku-Raiko-Ha. He convulsed and stoppedmoving
soon after.
"KIDO!" screamed Mitsunari while, from either side of him, both
thedetective and the fox demon tensed. The lightning bolt that theseventh
Suzaku fired off wasn't supposed to hit Kido. It was supposedto move the
shadows of the three remaining Suzakus and one maniacalKanji Killer away
from the shadow master's "Shadow Paralysis"technique.
In an instant, Jine pulled out his sword from the Suzaku shish kebab...one
of them blasted Kido square in the chest... and then he apparentlyused his
Jagan again because he ended up splitting into two as though hehimself had
doppelganger powers.
The detective rose to the challenge, parrying his former fellow
policeofficer's thrust with a Yin-Yang Cross then intending to finish him
offwith a riposte, but he ended up slicing through thin air. He attacked
amirage.
The second Jine... the real one... was upon Kurama in a split-second,
asthough all the millions of volts of electricity that coursed through
hisnerves and veins earlier helped reinvigorate him instead of almost
killhim.
The half-youko attempted to mutate another blade of grass into a swordof
grass... the Tsukayaki Blade... to block the incoming strike, but hehad
little to no youki left. He'd also lost a lot of blood.
A second later, the redhead was beheaded.
Daiji cried, "KURAMA!" Once again, he could only watch as a companion ofhis
kicked the bucket while on his watch.
Thanks to his rage over seeing his friends die, Yanagisawa producedenough
bloodthirstiness to not only transform into Himura Battousai, butto also
end up healing all the wounds that Jine inflicted upon himearlier.
He also turned his robe into Kenshin's outfit during the swordsman'sdays as
the Hitokiri Battousai the same way the powered-up Matsudairawas able to
recreate Aoshi's trench coat using only spiritual energy.
The three Suzakus chuckled in unison. This was going to be a quickfight.

===

Back at the rooftop of the Kawaguchiko Station...
The Blood Wind took Natsuki Shinkai by surprise, unable to deal with
theunknown technique that sapped her of blood and flung her away like
shewere experiencing Feng Xinhai's Tornado Ripper.
It took all her nimbleness to keep herself from landing on her head asshe
tumbled across the moonlike surface of the station's ruined rooftop.
This time around, Rando was able to bear the double-edged effect of
theBlood Wind... sapping the energy of both the user and his opponent
inorder for the rising hot blood energy and the cold and dense spiritenergy
to create the crimson hurricane... thanks to the energy boostNatsuki gave
him by deflecting his projectiles back at him.
He recycled, absorbed, and metabolized all that energy into youki careof
his Inner Blood Turmoil.
Meanwhile, although the Ryui Tsui Sen was supposed to finish off
the (admittedly) tough Rando, Yahiko Myojin's sakabatou was instead met
withsignificant resistance that deflected the blow.
The teenaged-looking old spirit narrowed his eyes; he remembered
theautopilot shield the kabuki youkai used against him and Sanosuke
backwhen they first fought all over Shibuya.
"Suna no Tate," confirmed Rando with a smirk.
With a grunt, Yahiko redirected his deflected blow towards the groundwith
the intention of blasting away the pasty-skinned demon with hissignature
"DOU GAMI!" or God on Earth.
However, the youkai countered (or rather, amplified) the earth-shattering
effect of the technique with a well-timed "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"that he did
with his index finger.
The combined forces of the two moves caused a fast combustion of
dustparticles in an enclosed space. Natsuki got up on instinct and
defendedagainst the attack, but there was no way her metal cane or her
defensiveprowess could deal with this sort of assault.
The Iron Body Technique and the Shield of Sand allowed Rando to survivethe
subsequent concussive explosion. The same could not be said ofMyojin and
Shinkai, who felt the full-brunt of the earthen blast.
It was the first significant hit that the demon was able to land againstthe
dual defense and offense of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu masters, but itwas
powerful enough to blow them off their feet.
Rando then scowled after he saw the bruised yet otherwise fine pair
ofNatsuki and Yahiko land on their feet. Shinkai grabbed hold of Myojin
inthe nick of time, then whirled her pistol-grip cane around to ward offand
repel the ensuing rock shards and debris.
'Why won't these children die?' lamented Rando
"Are you all right, Natsuki?" the demon overheard Yahiko say.
Natsuki gulped, wiped the bullets of sweat on her forehead, and slappedthe
Tokyo Samurai's behind. "That should be my line! I'm the one whosaved you!"
"Oh, right. Uh, thanks?"
"Soo are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
Despite the moronic exchange, Rando realized that thanks to the BloodWind,
the "Shield" portion of the duo's "Sword and Shield" tag teamlooked paler
and weaker than before.
Xinhai's daughter looked almost anemic, to be more specific.
Yusuke Urameshi once called Rando a jack of all trades and a master ofnone.
Nevertheless, the demon realized that he didn't have to be amaster of any
particular technique. He could use them all in combinationand end up
unbeatable regardless.
'Once you learn how to control the dozens of techniques in your
arsenal,you'll be unstoppable,' the Chojin himself assured Rando, which
theyoukai turned into his own personal mantra as he flexed his right
handuntil it turned rock-solid while he screamed at his opponents,
"I'minvincible. There's nothing you can do to me that I fear. KACHUU
TENSHINAMAGURIKEN!"
"Chestnut what...?" Yahiko repeated before he and Natsuki were
bombardedwith punch after punch after punch from all directions and all
angles.They didn't even have room to breathe as they backtracked,
dodged,parried, blocked, and countered Rando.
Or they would've countered had the youkai's Shield of Sand not blockevery
last counterattack attempt they made, which left them open to theflurry of
fists. The Suna no Tate served the same purpose as Natsuki didwhen it came
to defending against their strikes.
The right crosses were especially bone-breaking because Rando's
Kaiwantechnique from the Byakko's Claw made his entire right arm as hard
assteel. Because half of Shinkai's strength was sapped through the
BloodWind, her dodging and deflection abilities were now compromised.
Moreand more of the tattooed demon's offensive strikes were landing.
Rando counted every strike and counterstrike that Yahiko and Natsukilanded
on him earlier, with every intention of paying them back for it.
A strike was then able to land in the middle of Rando's barrage that
theSuna no Tate wasn't able to block. Luckily, he'd already activated
theSuna no Yoroi, so all it did was crack the earthen armor he wore on
topof his pasty skin.
It must've been a fluke. Rando resumed the barrage, but this time he
wascaught right between the eyes that shook his already concussed brain.
The strike made him misjudge the distance between him and Natsuki,allowing
the girl to cross her wrists above his Kaiwan with a Hawatari,then
countered with a Hadome-assisted Cross Strike to the jaw thatsnapped his
head back.
As he regained his bearings, he was again hit again with an attack
hecouldn't perceive every time he attempted to punch away with
the"Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" Fist. All he could see was Yahikoin
his Joudan-no-Kamae or Fire Stance, then boom! Stars.
This went on for a while. Yahiko and Natsuki began to look likeminced meat
from the repeated blows. However, from time to time, astrike would land in
the middle of Rando's hundred-fist flurry thatwould've been a match against
Yusuke's own Hyaku Retsu-Ken.
Natsuki would take advantage, do the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu ougi or theMugen
Dai no Hyogo backlash block that riddled the kabuki demon's Armorof Sand
with cracks.
But then a devastating blow from below followed the indecipherablestrike
from above that tested even the fortitude of Rando's Iron BodyTechnique.
However, the youkai didn't heed the early warnings of what washappening,
waving them off as flukes since he was beating the humans toa pulp and to
the punch with the sheer volume of the landed Joketsuzokustrikes.
That was a mistake. Soon, none of his flurry of punches were landingwhile
more and more of the counterstrikes were tearing his Sand of Armorand even
his Iron Body Technique apart. The rest of his wild fists wereblocked,
parried, and riposted, or altogether dodged by even thecompromised Natsuki.
Rando then realized what techniques were being used against him. Yahikohad
deployed the Inga Gami and Banzen Gami on Karasu earlier, but theylooked
altogether unimpressive compared to Yutaro Tsukayama's Symbol of Infinity
in terms of destructive power.
However, from up close, the techniques were downright frightening whenone
was on the receiving end of it. Counterstrikes you couldn't see. Follow-up
offensive strikes that doubled the power of the counters. Thatwas what
Rando was up against.
The nonstop offense of the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken soon became a jokethat
only left the pasty-skinned demon wide open since the Inga Gami
wasspecifically developed to precisely strike during small windows
ofopportunity, like throwing a pebble on the whirling blades of anelectric
fan without letting the blades repel it away so that it couldpass through.
Rando could see Yahiko's muscle tense up in the instant he threw
thecounterstrike ougi, making it doubly damaging than either the Dou Gamior
the Tsui Gami. However, the Banzen Gami was a different animalaltogether.
While the Karmic God relied on split-second precision, thePerfect God
relied on subconscious reflex, allowing Yahiko to land anextra strike right
after the Inga Gami even though the window ofopportunity to do so was even
smaller.
The tag team of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu experts pushed back the hyper-aggressive
Rando. Even though the human and the resurrected ghost of onewere rendered
black and blue by the Chestnut Fist, they soon got theupper hand again and
turned the tides, such that none of the youkai'sattacks could land in the
face of the Inga Gami, the Banzen Gami, theHawatari, the Hadome, the Kousa
Dageki, and the Mugen Dai no Hyogo.
In fact, the steel-hard Kaiwan throbbed and swelled, as if it were aboutto
burst after the continuous Symbols of Infinity it suffered from.However, as
Rando backtracked into a seeming retreat, his smile neverleft his face.
Even as the Suna no Yoroi altogether gave way and his"iron body" felt the
full brunt of those endless counterstrikes, he borethem head on.
He still had an ace up his sleeve (even though he had no sleeves).
For the second time in the fight, the demon was on the verge of
gettingknocked out. Nevertheless, his feet didn't fail him as he completed
thespiral on the ground and caught the two hotheads in his trap hook,
line,and sinker.
It was a Level Three technique of his... another Joketsuzoku techniquehe
copied that was right up his alley... but he'd gathered enough hotenergy
from the "passive-aggressive" duo to make the move work withouthaving to
sacrifice too much of his own remaining power.
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!" A tornado created from the cold energy that
Randoenveloped his body with using his Ibuki ki conversion move and
theheat-based energy borne of Yahiko and Natsuki's own bloodlust blastedthe
two upwards into the open sky.
After his failed Rasengan attempt thanks to Shinkai's traitorous
andinterloping father, Rando's losing streak had finally ended. The
pastyyoukai thusly collapsed, hoping he could wake up in time in case the
duosurvived the cyclone he blasted them with.

===

Right atop the enchanted trees that combined themselves into a gigantictree
network at the spot that was intended for the Chikyusei suicidepact in
Aokigahara...
"Haven't you learned your lesson, Battousai? You can't use the sametricks
Xinhai's living battery used against us. We, unlike you, havelearned our
lesson. ANKOKU-RAIJIN-KEN!"
As one of three Suzakus said this, his fist pumping forth enoughelectrical
energy to overload the power grid of an entire city,Battousai-Yanagisawa
sidestepped him, turned around, and cleaved himfrom shoulder to belly.
Yanagisawa considered touching Suzaku to gain his power and memories,but
reconsidered once he remembered that the demon was after the DemonSword and
could electrocute him to death with one touch.
The next Suzaku fired off
92,000-miles-or-148,000-kilometers-per-secondAnkoku-Raiko-Ha from a
distance. None of the lightspeed lightningbolts touched the golden-eyed
"Kenshin", each arrow-shaped projectilehitting nothing but afterimages.
Even though the Shinsoku-fast ex-hitokiri could only move at
supersonicspeeds at best, he was still faster than every arm movement, hand
wave,and muscle spasm that the demon utilized in order to activate
thelightspeed move and release its electrical payload.
A gun was only as fast as the person who pulled its trigger, even whenit
came to demonic railguns like Suzaku.
Just as the second-to-the-last remaining Suzaku noticed his
double'stroubles and elected to help by double-teaming the former
vagabond,Yana-Kenshin raised his sword from the Joudan-no-Kamae
stance...Yahiko's favorite stance... and screamed, "KUZU RYU SEN!" at them.
The technique was so fast, the nearest Suzaku was turned into eightequal
halves of himself (the ninth move of the Nine-Headed Dragon Flashwas a
thrust) before Kenshin could even finish uttering the firstsyllable of the
five-syllable name of the attack.
The last surviving Suzaku scooted as far away from Kenshin as possiblewhile
he mumbled, "Kaifuku," which was his Prism of Seven Restoration.He proceed
to consume the souls of his copies in order to heal hisinjuries and return
himself to full strength, the bodies of his clones turning into ectoplasm
and dust.
The Battousai was scarily fast and efficient when it came to killingdemons.
Perhaps this was the reason why he was able to graduate frombeing a
manslayer to a full-fledged demon-slayer. He was still aswordsman with a
steel blade, though; that was something he could neverchange.
Suzaku created enough positively charged static energy around him toattract
lightning from the negatively charged nimbus clouds and/orplumes of dust
from the forest fire that never really went away tostrike his body.
It also helped that they were in a high enough location right beside
theworld-famous Mount Fuji. The subsequent massive electric discharge
gaveSuzaku enough "juice" to gain complete psychic control over
magneticfields and metals, steel included. No force on earth was greater
thanmagnetism, Suzaku decided.
In reaction to the glowing and powered-up Suzaku's challenge,
Kenshinsheathed his sword and went into his signature sword-drawing stance
thathe was named for... the battoujutsu of Battousai.
The last surviving Shisejyu didn't care. The Battousai could have anUzi or
a Tommy Submachine Gun, and the bullets would stop dead on theirtracts. To
immobilize a mere sword strike would be child's play. As soonas he had
Himura trapped, he'd blast him until there was nothing left ofhim.
'Then his sword will be all mine,' thought the Saint Beast leader.
Battousai stood stock-still while Suzaku already had electricity
flowingthrough his veins so that Kenshin couldn't use the delay
betweentriggering a lightning strike and releasing the electrical discharge
tohis advantage. With an arrogant step, the Crimson Sparrow
saunteredtowards his prey.
The Himura-possessed Yanagisawa didn't bother calling out the name ofthe
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu's Succession Technique, the Amakakeru Ryu noHirameki.
That was because even before the sound left his mouth, themove would've
already be done.
Then again, no move, not even one that could produce a localized
vacuum,could be faster than lightning or light itself. The magnetic
fieldsurrounding Suzaku... the one powerful enough to stop bullets in
mid-flight... would render the Demon Sword's steel blade moot.
The screams of terror of Kenshin... or rather, of the shapeshifter
theBattousai took control over... would be soundless, because theconvulsive
effects of a billion volts of electricity would not evenallow the vocal
cords to vocalize.
These things and more was all in Suzaku's mind as the top half of hisbody
flew to the sky while the bottom half crumpled down on theground (or
rather, on the fat tree trunk and branches of a cluster ofintertwined
Aokigahara trees).
"What? Why...?" said one-half of the last surviving Suzaku, his guts
andintestines flapping below him as he soared the skies and fell back
downto the part of Aokigahara that wasn't influenced by Kurama's
immensedemonic energy.
The supernaturally strong Flash of the Heavenly Flying Dragon was evenmore
powerful than supersonic bullets or an ESP-controlled magneticbarrier. This
was like a child being able to separate or stick togethersmall bars of
magnets through physical strength alone, only this was aforce that was many
magnitudes higher.
The immense force of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu Ougi was able to
overcomemagnetism itself.
'I want that sword. So the gods help me, that sword will be mine!'thought
Suzaku minutes before dying.

===

As Kurama's head flew from his body, his neck as smoothly cut as asawed-off
tree stump, Jine felt a tinge of regret. He'd have to findanother vessel
for the Demon Sword to possess in order for him to havehis great, legendary
"rubber match" against the one-and-only YoukiriBattousai.
Nevertheless, he didn't have time for regrets. The flying head of
Kuramaemitted a high-pitched squeal that shattered the eardrums of the
serialkiller and made his ears bleed.
"...A mandrake clone! When did he...?" Jine realized. The half-demon
hedecapitated was nothing more than a doppelganger himself. Again, thedemon
fox stayed one step ahead of him when it came to tactical battles.
'I was right. He's as worthwhile an opponent as the Youkiri
Battousaihimself,' the Kanji Killer thought as he, half-deaf and
alreadysuffering from the effects of a compromised sense of balance, was
facedwith the leaping Spiral Sword Dance (Six Series) of a
new-and-improved(or at least more fit and athletic) Detective Daiji
Matsudaira.
He leaped towards the police officer head on, intending to block
thespinning slashes with his calligraphic brushstroke strikes, but
thedetective cut off his sword arm (and, frighteningly enough, his
sworditself) before he could do so.
He became a sopping mess of flayed limbs and cuts of long meat an eyeblink
later, Kurama's ruse and Daiji's instant reaction ultimatelydefeating him.
As Jine's head tumbled around the massive tree trunk of the combinedtrees
of the Sea of Trees like a hollow coconut, the earlier blazefrom the
burgeoning forest fire finally dying down because the mergedcollection of
trees became literally too big for the flames to consume,Daiji stuck his
kodachi to his thigh one more time just in case Udobamboozled him again.
The Kanji Killer certainly did, because his next eye blink revealed notjust
the head of Udo, but his whole healthy (albeit slashed and bloody)body
falling right into the forest below. Matsudaira cursed under hisbreath.
"Officer Hamada" had managed to use the Jagan's hypnosis yetagain.
From right below Daiji, hidden between the pulsating roots, vines, andstems
of the gigantic Aokigahara tree collective lay Kurama and somemedicinal
herbs that helped coagulate the blood from his open woundsand heal the
damage inflicted to him by Jine Udo.
Right beside the half-conscious redhead was an unconscious Kido, whohimself
was being treated for his electrocution via nonstick sterile(and organic)
bandages that covered his second-to-third degree burns.
That wasn't the end of everything just yet, though.

===

Kenshin Himura... or at least a Kenshin who took advantage of
MitsunariYanagisawa's shapeshifting abilities to gain a tangible form
withoutsapping his own ghostly life force... was just about to walk away
fromthe mess he left of the last surviving Suzaku when he felt
manydifferent presences surrounding him. Six of them, in fact.
"ROKU-GOKU-ANKOKU-RAIKO-HA!"
The Battousai barely had enough time to duck, dodge, and roll away asan
endless blast of electrical arrows rained all over the Aokigaharamega-tree
that Kurama made, which restarted the forest fire that wassupposed to be
done and over with. Kenshin proceeded to act like alumberjack and cut down
the overhanging branches and whole trees thatsprouted from the amalgamated
Sea of Trees.
The Battousai did this because the six Suzakus were probably againperched
above higher ground, serving as cowardly snipers and whatnot.From behind
him, Daiji appeared and wordlessly followed suit, theOniwabanshu Okashira
reincarnation's shorter kodachi somehow managing tocut even more
effectively than a longsword or a chainsaw thanks to theSpiral Sword Dance.
It didn't take long for the six clones of Suzaku to come down from
theirlofty perches once more to face the two Tokugawa-to-Meiji-Era warriors.
This time around, the sinister six worked more like an army unit thatKurama
could barely stop with the entire Aokigahara forest in hiscontrol rather
than the standalone Tesla coils of before, razing throughthe entirety of
the fox demon's Aokigahara mega-tree and enveloping itin flames, the forest
fire from before reignited anew.
Soon, the six had both the retreating Oniwabanshu Okashira turnedShinjuku
Detective and Hitokiri Battousai turned Spirit Guardiancornered between
inferno and damnation: An all-consuming forest fire andsix electrical
demons that were collectively unkillable.
Just then, the Suzaku that Kenshin-Yanagisawa was supposed to kill...the
one that produced those six new clones.... rose up and absorbed the ghosts
of the six deceased doppelgangers that Mitsunari and Kidofinished off
earlier.
"You were supposed to kill me, Battousai. You were quite efficient inmowing
down all my clones, but when you came upon the opportunity offinishing me
off once and for all, you balked. You held back. Why isthat?" Suzaku
wondered before rejoining the six of him, thuslycompleting the Suzaku Seven.
Daiji narrowed his eyes as his mind flashed back to his... or
rather,Aoshi's... own fights against Kenshin. He remembered that the
greatHitokiri Battousai, the strongest of the manslayers, refused to kill
himtoo for some reason. 'Even until now, when we're up against demons,
hestill chooses to spare them and follow his non-killing vow. Why?'
Around the time the Okashira and the Battousai crossed swords, Kenshinthe
Vagabond was following some sort of non-killing vow. They had twobattles a
century ago (one ended in a draw and the other ended inBattousai winning),
and in both instances, the supposed slasher refusedto kill him.
"Could it be that the once great Battousai the Demon-Slayer is afraid
ofkilling his own opponents, like Jine claimed?" came Suzaku's
rhetorical question, his voice somehow remaining crystal clear despite the
noise ofdiscord, the crackle of thunder, and the raging flames that
surroundedthem all while the rest of the Suzakus kept firing their
Lightning Stormof Torment everywhere.
Suzaku's eyes narrowed as his antenna bangs went erect thanks to
staticelectricity. "I saw firsthand what happened to that Kido boy
earlier.You're afraid of being consumed by your own madness and bloodlust
bykilling me, aren't you? It's the same with Kurama, who refused to
evenwield the Demon Sword even though it gave him power equal to the
formerThree Kings of Makai."
Kenshin attempted to repeat the massacre he did earlier, but themagnetic
force of Seven Suzakus together created an even more powerfulbarrier than
before, thus his steel (although enchanted) blade couldn'teven touch any of
the demons.
The Kenshin-disguised Yanagisawa... or perhaps Kenshin himself...clenched
his teeth. "You're the person responsible for electrocutingNatsuki back in
Nishi-Shinjuku, when Jine and Kurama first fought!You've been hiding in the
shadows and spying on us all this whole time."
Suzaku spat back, "So what if it was me? That's beside the point.
You'regifted with all this talent, all this power, and you choose to
wasteit! Give me that sword and I'll show you how to truly harness
itsabilities!"
The six Suzaku had a ceasefire as they saw their "leader" raise hishand.
Then, in unison, they all posed with electric bows in theirpossession,
their bodies slowly but surely getting filled with demonicmight. At long
last, the complete Suzaku Seven could show off the fullextent of their
youkai powers.
"SHICHI-GOKU-ANKOKU-RAIKO-HA!"
An entire "block" of Kurama's Aokigahara mega-tree was blasted awayinto
ashes and dust, and it took Mitsunari-Kenshin's Shinsoku (Godspeed)and
Daiji's Ryusui no Ugoki (Water Flow Movement) to avoid becoming merestains
on the bark of the hydra-like Sea of Trees. The Seven Hells Dark Lightning
Wave was a technique to be reckoned with.
In between a forest fire consuming one mega-tree full of "Sea of Trees"and
the marching army of Suzakus, Detective Matsudaira and BattousaiHimura had
nowhere left to run or hide.
"Give me that sword! Your reluctance to kill shows that you don'tdeserve
that weapon at all. It should be mine and mine alone," said allseven
Suzakus this time around, their combined powers allowing them toact like a
hivemind of sorts.
Yana-Kenshin did another probing battoujutsu strike, but the swordwouldn't
fly off its sheath; the electromagnetic field surrounding theSuzaku Seven
proved too dense for even his signature move to penetrate.
"Fool! I will not be defeated by someone who cannot kill!" rebuked
theSuzaku Collective as they pushed Battousai Yanagisawa away
bymanipulating the magnetic fields around them with their integratedminds.
"Then what about me?" asked Daiji as he did the Dusk to Dawn Strike orthe
technique that involved him hitting the handle of one kodachi withthe tip
of the other kodachi like how a pool player would hit a cue ballwith a
billiards stick.
This resulted in the blade embedding itself right at the forehead ofthe
centermost Suzaku, the one whom Kenshin failed to kill. Also, tokeep any of
the Suzakus from repelling the blade with their control ofmagnetism, he
made sure to create a _ceramic_ short sword instead of asteel one, like he
mentioned earlier.
It didn't even faze Suzaku or any of his other clones. All it did wasanger
him (or perhaps it lobotomized him into having a hyper-focused,one-track
mind).
"The Demon Sword isn't a sword made to kill demons, but a sword that'smade
_for_ demons. THAT SWORD BELONGS TO ME! GIVE ME MY SWORD!
SHICHI-GOKU-ANKOKU-RAIKO-HA!"
Thinking fast (and after he created a spare kodachi out of thin air), the
detective again utilized his Quest-Class powers to synthesize adomed wire
mesh that caged off Kenshin and himself from the blast. Justas the
Battousai was about to chide Matsudaira for creating such aflimsy shield,
the Prism of Seven Lightning Storm of Torment wasabsolutely absorbed by the
chicken-wire fence, such that it didn'tproduce the expected explosion,
disintegration, or electrocution thatnearly leveled the giant Aokigahara
amalgamation that Kurama created.
"What's going on? Why aren't we being electrocuted even though
we'restanding on a dome made of wire mesh?" asked both Yanagisawa
andKenshin at the same time, their voices in chorus like the Suzakuhivemind
earlier.
"It's a Faraday Cage," answered Daiji. Seeing the even more confusedlook
that Yana-Battousai gave him, he expounded, "If an enclosure filledwith
conductive material is struck by electricity, it could serve asinsulation
on anything contained within it, even something as powerfulas the
Shichi-Goku-Ankoku-Raiko-Ha."
Invented by Michael Faraday back in 1836, the Faraday Cage or Faradayshield
showed that electricity had no influence on the interior of anyarea, pen,
corral, or enclosed space made of conductive material. Anyroom composed of
metal... like an elevator or a car... when struck bylightning could serve
as "insulation" because there could be noelectrical charge present inside
it.
It was an effect that Benjamin Franklin himself first demonstrated viahis
cork-and-can electricity experiments back in 1755 (which wasmisconstrued in
pop culture as a kite-flying experiment during athunderstorm). Faraday
merely further established Franklin'sobservations by duplicating the effect
and having it named after him(the "Faraday Cage" effect).
A second Seven Hell Dark Lightning Wave was attempted, followed by athird
one. Afterwards, all seven of the Suzakus were struck bylightning,
especially the middle one with a short sword stuck in hishead, their bodies
glowing with a sheer amounts of electrical energythey were converting to
demonic energy.
"We need to get out," said Detective Matsudaira to "Mitsunari Himura"before
he cut an human-sized opening out of the chicken wire fence withhis ceramic
knives. Kenshin himself exited from the Faraday shield witha powerful
sword-drawing slash of his own.
They came out just in time before the metal dome collapsed unto itselffrom
the robust magnetic forces that crumpled the Faraday Cage like aballed-up
piece of paper.
Both the former Oniwabanshu Okashira and the former Ishin ShishiHitokiri
realized that they had no other recourse but to launch anoffensive,
especially after the Suzaku Seven ripped the wire mesh fromDaiji's Faraday
Cage apart and turned them into a hundred thousandshards of metal that
rained upon the two Spirit world warriors at thespeed of bullets.
Three of the Suzaku Seven were controlling the magnetic field requiredto
move the metal shards. The other three were in archery stances,their bows
made of light, electrical discharge, and youki as theyprepared to fire wave
upon wave of the Ankoku-Raiko-Ha. Meanwhile, themiddle Suzaku with a
kodachi stabbed into his noggin cocked his fist in preparation for the
Ankoku-Raijin-Ken.
The stage had been set for the final battle.
Blood, sweat, and tears flew along with the shards of magnetized
metalcontrolled by three Suzakus as Mitsunari and Daiji... or perhaps, tobe
more accurate, Kenshin and Aoshi... used their respective speed
andacrobatic nimbleness to dodge bullet-like projectiles and
lightspeedbolts of lightning at the same time from seven different
opponentsacting as one.
During all that time, all seven Suzakus chanted, "Give me the DemonSword!
That sword is mine!" over and over, their solemn pledge like thedrone from
a swarm of bees.
It was now a war zone up there. By then, the entirety of the combinedSea of
Trees from Japan's World-Famous Suicide Forest was completelyengulfed in a
raging forest fire, the thick smoke serving as thenimbus clouds that bumped
off their own dirt particles together untilthey become negatively charged,
which would then result in electricaldischarges similar to those from the
volcanic plume of a dirtythunderstorm.
The only area not surrounded with the growing blaze was being rippedinto
shreds by the metal shards from Matsudaira's Faraday Cage that theSuzaku
Seven tore apart and turned into projectiles care of theircontrol over
their own magnetic field. The detective and the spiritguardian looked like
they were being gunned down by invisible mobsterswielding semiautomatics.
Daiji was the first one to take out a Suzaku, this time riddling himwith
ceramic short swords created from the ether of his own spiritualenergy to
ensure that the demon wouldn't survive like the middle Suzakuthat
Matsudaira lobotomized did.
The policeman then proceeded to grab two kodachi from the
pin-cushionedSuzaku corpse (the holes of which produced a fountain of
blood) in orderto do the Spiral Sword Dance: Six Series on another Suzaku
before hisattempt at an Ankoku-Raijin-Ken could be completed, all the
whiledodging bullets made from his own Faraday Cage.
He wasn't so lucky with the third Suzaku he engaged with, who shot himwith
an Ankoku-Raiko-Ha while his vision was covered by the highpressure red
fountain in front of him.
He would've been able to avoid the blast using his trusty Water
FlowMovement, but the Suzaku with the kodachi in his head blasted him with
aStorm of Torment Fist that, while he dodged, helped attract severalmetal
shards towards his direction, ripping him apart and turning himinto a
sitting duck for the Lightning Storm of Torment.
As he convulsed from electric shock and was "shot" by a hail of shrapnel,he
summoned enough of his pride and the last of his strength to do aYin-Yang
Cross on the nearest Suzaku, slicing him apart into four pieceslike a pizza
pie. He flashbacked to the moment wherein he... as Aoshi...managed to
uppercut Kenshin after the redhead crushed his windpipe intheir first
encounter before collapsing in a pool of his own blood.
Meanwhile, right off the bat, Kenshin killed one Suzaku and
dismemberedanother while deflecting and dodging shrapnel by doing a
runningbattoujutsu strike turned into the Ryu Sou Sen.
The supersonic speed, growing momentum, and unpredictable pattern
ofYanagisawa Battousai's attack enabled him to do four things, which wasto
hurt or kill the Suzaku clones, avoid the hail of magneticallycontrolled
metal shrapnel, confuse the enemy on where to fire theirlightspeed
lightning bolts, and overcome the forces of attraction and resistance from
the Suzaku Seven's magnetic field.
In an instant, Yana-Kenshin was boxed in. From all around him rained
thebullet-fast shrapnel that were as fast (or even faster) than
Kenshin'sGodspeed or even Soujiro Seta's Reduced Earth.
Directly behind him was the recovering amputee Suzaku who was about tofire
off a lightspeed Ankoku-Raijin-Ken. Right in front of him was acompletely
healthy Suzaku who was about to shoot him with an Ankoku-Raiko-Ha from a
distance. He had nowhere to else to run but straightforward.
"RYU MEI SEN!"
As sawdust, fire, wood, splinter, lightning, and metallic shards cameflying
everywhere, Kenshin sheathed his sword. However, it wasn't anordinary
sheathing technique. It was a supersonic sheathing move that,while wasn't
as fast as the Lightning Storm of Torment, was supersonicenough to reach
the unharmed Suzaku's ears, shatter his eardrums, andmake them bleed before
he could pull the trigger of his Dark LightningWave.
Thusly, the supposedly unavoidable lightning bolt that was faster thanany
mere swordsman missed Battousai by a mile, which made the Suzakuclone's
knees buckle. Yanagisawa-Kenshin then took advantage of this moment of
weakness and used a sword-drawing strike to slice up thedemon's thighs,
which made him drop like sawed timber.
"RYU KAN SEN!"
Espying the approaching amputee from behind him, the ex-hitokiricontinued
the arching movement of his quick-draw battoujutsu techniqueeven before the
other Suzaku could slide off his sliced limbs in pureagony. The
decapitating cut to the amputee Suzaku went from the back ofhis head to in
between his lips, thus separating his upper jaw from hislower jaw.
However, because Kenshin didn't expect it, the amputee managed
toelectrocute the Battousai-transformed Yanagisawa by blasting
forthelectrical energy from the bleeding stump where his right hand used
tobe. While convulsing, the teenager-turned-hitokiri got hit several
timesby stray magnetized shards.
As Mitsunari stumbled and reverted back to his normal self for a fewseconds
before turning back into Kenshin again through sheer force ofwill, the
legless Suzaku clone came up with an idea that would let himwin against the
Demon Sword Guardian even though, at present, he had (literally) no legs to
stand on.
Summoning the last of his strength to turn himself into a demonicmagnet,
the Crimson Sparrow beckoned all of the metal shards towardshimself while
Kenshin was distracted, a black swarm of them floatingtowards the revived
swordsman while tearing apart the landscape. Suzakumight as well use them
all up, since even Detective Matsudaira hadalready fallen.
"DOU RYU SEN!"
The concussive wave delayed the ETA of the metal cloud of death, whichgave
Yanagisawa Battousai enough time to jump up ten feet into the
air.Meanwhile, the limbless Suzaku didn't have enough time to turn
hiselectromagnetic powers "off" before the shrapnel from Daiji's
FaradayCage turned him into red mulch in seconds.
There was only one Suzaku left; the one whose head the policeman
stabbedwith his ceramic kodachi. Harnessing the power of his deceased
selveswith a timely "KAIFUKU!" the (possibly brain-damaged) demon
grabbedsomething near his feet then used his remaining hand to control and
aimthe metal shards right at the descending Kenshin.
"RYU TSUI SEN!"
Because of the wider amount of space given to him after jumping so highup
the air, Yana-Himura was able to weave, bob, duck, and barrel rollhis way
out of the whizzing magnetic bullets before doing a singletumble and
unleashing his signature aerial move, the Dragon HammerFlash.
"Battousai! Let me give you a HAND!"
That was when the last remaining Suzaku threw what was in his otherhand and
let it latch onto the blade of the Demon Sword. It was,incidentally, the
hand of the Suzaku clone that Battousai amputated andbeheaded a while back.
The dismembered limb gripped the Reikai artifact tight, but because
itwasn't a reverse-edged sword like Himura's former blade, the steel
endedup slicing the limb's fingers.
Kenshin knew that, like Makoto Shishio, this Suzaku couldn't be leftalive,
so he planned to hit him with a Ryu Tsui Sen then combo it offwith a Kuzu
Ryu Sen, thus finishing him off for good... the consequencesof taking the
life of a demon and what its effects would be on the DemonSword be damned.
But before he could do that, the Youtou Shinnoken slipped his grip.
Thedismembered hand that Suzaku threw magnetized the blade enough to
fallunder the Shisejyu's magnetic grip. This left a
de-transformedYanagisawa at the mercy of the airborne shrapnel bullets that
ripped hislanky, untrained teenaged body apart, broom hair and all.
Suzaku did it. He outsmarted Kurama _and_ the Hitokiri Battousai,overcame
Xinhai's greatest rival, Detective Matsudaira, and didsomething that no
other member of the Chojin's personal army could do:Claim the Demon Sword
for himself.
'With this, even the Chojin wouldn't stand a chance against me.'
With a grin wide enough to split his face the same way his amputeeclone's
face was split when it was hit with the Dragon Wrap Flash,Suzaku was soon
mere inches away from the Demon Sword's handle.
However, a flash of light blinded him for a second, and the next thinghe
knew, a portal had opened in front of him where the Demon Sword wassupposed
to be. His shoulder was also bleeding, a thin but deep cutrendering his arm
numb.
"Wha...?"
Suzaku turned in time to see a winded but triumphant Kazuma Kuwabaraemerge
from the smoke and fire, his Dimension Sword in hand... the same Jigen Tou
that could cut through dimensions, barriers, and time-spaceitself in order
to create portals.
"We're even now. A cheap shot for a cheap shot," shouted Kuwabara with
aone-eyed wince. The tall, muscular teenager didn't even hear thecolorful
curse words the Crimson Sparrow spat at him as the demontripped into the
closing portal, out of everyone's sight.
It was finally over.

===

"Nice aim, Kuwabara!" Yanagisawa cheered as he regained feeling in hisbody,
his wounds healing thanks in part to him taking hold of the YoutouShinnoken
once more. "You were the one who've saved the day! That wasawesome!"
Kuwabara scratched the back of his head as he let out boisterouslaughter.
Meanwhile, the gigantic Aokigahara mega-tree composed of intertwinedtrees
gradually shrunk in size as Kurama, its creator, reabsorbed hisdemonic
energy into his body for the sake of healing all his injuries.
The shrinking forest also helped contain what could have been awildfire
that would've wiped out most of the corpse-ridden suicideforest into ashes
and dust.
Had the demon fox not allowed the burning trees to grow and burn faraway
from the rest of the wilderness as possible, the Aokigahara forestfire
would've been on the evening news.
"Nah, that was actually terrible aim," Kazuma confessed to Yana.
Mitsunari's jaw almost dropped to the ground as he asked, "Why would yousay
that?"
With a shrug, the Master of the Jigen Tou admitted, "I was actuallyaiming
for Suzaku."
As the two teenagers laughed, the last of the enlarged Aokigahara treeswere
shrunk back to their original size. From one of the vines,branches, and
tree barks emerged Kurama and Kido, as though awakenedafter a season of
hibernation.

===

To Be Continued...
Next: A new target.
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro
Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the
rightfulproperty of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony
Studios,Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer
alsocovers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many
tomention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Heto na,Abdiel
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